We don’t need no education, say pupils with business brain

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Record numbers of bright pupils are shunning university and opting for enticing apprenticeships that offer salaries of up to £30,000 on completion.

Soaring university fees, student debt and the uncertainty of finding a job when they graduate are pushing many A-level students away from higher education and into training programmes with big companies including PwC and National Grid.

With 40 per cent of students who graduated last year saying they “regretted” going to university, dissatisfaction with the experience is rife.

Simon Leedham, 26, decided to read chemistry at the University of Nottingham after getting AAB in his A levels but